French Peach Pie

What do you do when you have some overly-ripe peaches? Make a pie! 

Especially when it is as effortlessly as this to do so!

Ingredients:

filling:

5 peaches, peeled and sliced

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

crust:

2 cup flour

2 tsp. salt

1 cup oil

4 Tbs. milk (whole or 2%)

french topping:

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Peel the peaches (I do it messily so there is still some skin left) then slice them. 

Place them in a large bowl.

3. Add the sugar and cinnamon to the peaches. 

Mix with a spoon and put to the side. 

The peaches will start to "sweat". :)

4. Mix together the ingredients for the crust. 

Press the flour mixture into a 9" pie pan like a crumb crust. 

The crust will be very moist.

5. Using a slotted spoon, layer the pan with the peach mixture.

6. Prepare the French Topping. 

With your hands, mix together the butter and sugar until it is a wet crumble. 

Then add the flour and mix until crumbly.

7. Cover the peaches with the French topping.

8. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Shhh.. don't tell anyone how easy it was!

Cooking with Dove

September 1st marked the beginning of Dove season. We invited a few friends over for a barbeque and decided to get creative with how we prepared the dove. This small game is unique in the fact that it cannot (to my knowledge) be purchased in a store and is therefore only available to those who are successful in their hunt (and let me tell you, they are fast!).

Two of the recipes we chose turned out incredible- Dove Lettuce Wraps and Portuguese-Style Grilled Dove. I would 100% recommend these recipes.

Dove Lettuce Wraps

This dish was so quick to prepare and a crowd-pleaser! 

We doubled the recipe, except for the rice!

Ingredients:

2-3 heads iceberg lettuce

2 Tbs vegetable oil

1 tsp sesame oil

6 green onions, minced

1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbs ginger root, peeled and minced

1 1/2 cups skinless dove breast fillets, chopped

2 Tbs soy sauce

2 Tbs rice vinegar

1 1/2 cups cooked rice

1 (8 oz) can water chestnuts, chopped

1 jar hoisin sauce

Sriracha Sauce

Instructions:

1. Do all of your chopping, etc. ahead of time for all of the ingredients and set aside 

(including cooking the rice!)- it doesn't take long to cook so you want to be ready!

 

 2. Prepare the lettuce cups: carefully peel the individual lettuce leaves away from each other, starting at the stem end. 

This takes patience! You can trim the edges if desired.

3. Heat vegetable and sesame oils in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat.

 Add onions, bell pepper, garlic and ginger root. 

Stir-fry 2 minutes.

4. Add dove meat and stir-fry another 2 minutes more.

5. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, cooked rice and water chestnuts. 

Stir-fry until mixture is warmed throughout.

6. Transfer to your serving bowl. 

Guests can make their own lettuce wraps by scooping the dove mixture into the lettuce cup

 and adding hoisin sauce and the Sriracha to taste- 

and if you are me, the spicier the better!

Portuguese-Style Grilled Dove

The combination of spices in this recipe balanced the sweet-to-spicy ratio perfectly! 

We left the dove whole for this recipe and make sure to marinate overnight!

Ingredients: 

5 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

5 bay leaves, crumbled fine

4 to 5 small hot chile peppers  

1 Tbs sweet paprika 

1 Tbs minced fresh rosemary 

1 tsp sea salt 

1 cup Madeira

1/2 cup olive oil 

1 Tbs honey

12 to 16 whole doves

Freshly ground black pepper for serving

Instructions:

1. Place all of the ingredients except the honey, doves, and black pepper in a food processor 

or blender and buzz until smooth, about 1 minute. 

2. Pour the marinade into 1 or 2 large resealable freezer bags and add the doves.

 Seal and mix the marinade around the doves so they’re well coated. 

Refrigerate overnight.

3. The next day, after transfering the doves to a plate, pour the marinade into a small pot. 

Bring the marinade to a boil, stirring often. 

Add the honey until the optimal sweet-hot ratio is achieved!

4. Place the doves on the grill, breast side up. 

Cover the grill and cook the doves, undisturbed, for 4 to 6 minutes, depending on how done you like them. 

Around 4 minutes will result in medium-rare doves. 

5. Remove the birds from the grill and let them rest for at least a few minutes. 

Pour the warm sauce over the birds and grind some black pepper on top.